Seven of the thousands of junior doctors who have been on the roads for the past two months demanding justice for the 31-year-old on-duty junior doctor who was brutally raped and murdered at Kolkata’s state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, continued their ‘fast-unto-death’ for the fifth consecutive day on Wednesday.
The list of seven medics who have been fasting includes doctors Snigdha Hazra, Tanaya Panja, and Anustup Mukhopadhyay from Kolkata Medical College and Hospital, Arnab Mukhopadhyay from SSKM, Pulastha Acharya from NRS Medical College and Hospital, and Sayantani Ghosh Hazra from KPC Medical College have been staging a ‘fast-unto-death’ since Saturday evening. On Sunday, they were joined by Aniket Mahato from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Commenting on the ongoing hunger strike, agitating junior doctor Aniket Mahato said, “We will continue this hunger strike as we had promised. Some leaders of the ruling party are making fun of our protest, but we would like to tell them that there is no fake in that. If they want they can come here and check themselves… We will not stop until our demands are met.”
On Tuesday, the junior medics were also joined by the senior doctors. When asked about the supportive move, Dr Punyabrata Gun, one of the joint convenors of the West Bengal Joint Platform of Doctors said that they would continue supporting the junior medics as they were “keen to tender resignation” to put the government under pressure to fulfil the demands of the junior medics.
